milk+honey

today
irvine spectrum. chipotle. milk+honey. catching up. laughing. with a bestie. ♥.

arrested development
the other day, I decided to start an AD marathon. it's even funnier the second time around. currently I'm on season 1 episode 6.

Chanel
I find it hilarious when my puppy chases after her tail. yes, all dogs do it. but when Chanel does it, it really cracks me up. she wags it furiously, and just when her peripherals catch a glimpse of white, she becomes a circling white blob.

the missing piece
recently, I received a birthday present: The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein. I have most of his works, and love a lot of them. but it just so happened that I didn't have this one in my collection. reading it as an adult, I find it so fascinating. as cliché as it sounds, I really feel like I can relate. I, too, am searching for my missing piece. but for the time being, I'm content with stopping to smell the flowers and with enjoying this time of singleness.

tapas
I really enjoy meals that come in small portions. omakase. prix fixe. tasting menus. tapas. after trying tapas for the first time for my birthday, I decided to buy a book filled with hundreds of tapas recipes. maybe I'll throw a small tapas celebration soon. with some sangria. mmmmm.

ihop
one of these days, I would like to visit ihop: international house of prayer. not of pancakes. I hear some pretty amazing things about it. care to join me?

fear
training myself to fear the Lord. nothing else. easier said than done, of course.

family matters

this is my family [or three-fourths of it at least]

for the past few days since I've been back, I have had no desire to do anything but to stay at home and do nothing. something about being constantly on the go for a week makes me want to get back in touch with my introvert.

anyway, today I got out of the house because it was my grandpa's 94th birthday celebration. being surrounded by grandparents, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and good food, I felt such a perfect combination of peace and joy. every time we get together, there is tangible proof that God is blessing each and every one of us (and there are quite a few of us).

my youngest aunt and uncle decided to retire as the head pastor at gnc and go to China to look over and live with 12 disabled children in a rural city. as they were sharing with us where they would be going and about the lives of these children and of the great faith that each of them had in our God, I felt a great wave of emotion. first, admiration for my aunt and uncle and second, hope and love for the children there. their willingness to serve even after years and years of serving others is so encouraging. I told them that if God wills it, I would love to go to China to see the kids and to help out one of these days.

I love my family.

the unexamined life

back from my east coast adventures, I can say that no matter where I go in the world for however long, I think I'll always be a California girl at heart. don't get me wrong, NY was great and all. but I just love Cali too much.

highlights from my trip:
+winning the lottery for Wicked and getting front row seats for $25
+bike tour of central park
+rose-lychee macaron [macaron cafe]
+thin crust pizza [fornino pizzeria, brooklyn]
+walking around everywhere
+no tax shopping!
+vintage leather coach purse for $25 [hell's kitchen flea market]
+peking duck [peking gourmet inn, virginia]

lowlights:
-creepy men
-slippery floors in bars=my travel partner tearing her ligament
-lack of bathrooms
-having only 30 minutes to tour the Met
-being broke at the end of it all

just in closing, I want to thank God for being so wonderfully good to me.
everything was perfectly ordained by Him. therefore, everything, whether "good" or "bad" was simply that: perfect.

blessed be Your name

I just had one of the best weeks ever.

spending my twenty-first with:
the most amazing parents
the most amazing girlfriends
the most amazing friends
the most amazing church family

eating at:
lizarran tapas, downtown fullerton
picasso in bellagio, las vegas
father's office, culver city
yard house, brea
cpk, brea

praising God at debriefing retreat with:
a pretty amazing band of people who love and fear the Lord
new friends and old friends

catching up with:
friends whom I haven't seen in a while
friends I've seen all summer

basically, I am so very blessed.
and all I can think about when I recap this week is this:
every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise.
I love you Jesus.

thank you everyone who made my birthday so special.
for the birthday wishes, gifts, texts, phone calls, dinners, lunches, drinks, and love.
I am so grateful for all of you.
♥

off to new york.
see you in two weeks!

everything is alright

hello august.

today was a productive day for my mind. after dwelling upon The Giver, I found inspiration for my senior thesis idea. and after re-reading Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, that idea has been confirmed. for the sake of time, I'll just say that it's delving into the idea of emotions in the posthumanist realm. I really hope I just stay with this one.

what I needed was a day to just be apart from the outside world. today was the day. it felt really good. watched three hours of grey's anatomy. then scribbled my thesis idea onto the blank pages of my mustard yellow notebook.

I really love dystopic / futuristic texts. a far cry for a girl who loves pride&prejudice. who says one can't love two extremes?

instead of the lemonade cleanse, I opted for the grapefruit detox. it isn't too bad. and I don't do too well with programs that require me to forego solid foods.

only a week left until I turn the big 2-1. it's kind of nerve wracking.

I'm excited to check out the Melrose flea market this Sunday. hope I find a lot of vintage goodies!